Convert between ropani, aana, paisa, dam (hills), bigha, kattha, dhur (Terai) and square feet, square metres, hectare or acre. Enter a size in whichever system your land certificate uses — the result shows all three at once.
Why Nepal has two land measurement systems
Nepal never unified its land units. The hills — including the Kathmandu valley — use ropani, aana, paisa and dam, while the Terai plains use bigha, kattha and dhur. Land certificates, municipal valuation records and newspaper listings all follow whichever system the district uses, so a buyer comparing a plot in Lalitpur with one in Chitwan is comparing two different vocabularies.
The two systems are only comparable through area, which is why this converter routes everything through square feet rather than trying to map units directly. It is also why the answers are not round numbers: one bigha is 13.3126 ropani, not 13.
What is 1 ropani, 1 aana and 1 bigha in square feet?
| Unit | System | Square feet | Square metres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Ropani | Hill | 5,476 | 508.74 |
| 1 Aana | Hill | 342.25 | 31.80 |
| 1 Paisa | Hill | 85.5625 | 7.95 |
| 1 Dam | Hill | 21.390625 | 1.99 |
| 1 Bigha | Terai | 72,900 | 6,772.63 |
| 1 Kattha | Terai | 3,645 | 338.63 |
| 1 Dhur | Terai | 182.25 | 16.93 |
The ladders are exact: 1 ropani = 16 aana = 64 paisa = 256 dam, and 1 bigha = 20 kattha = 400 dhur. Everything above divides out of the two anchor figures, 5,476 sq ft and 72,900 sq ft.
How do you read a land size written as 3-2-1-0?
It is a ladder, largest unit first: 3 ropani, 2 aana, 1 paisa, 0 dam. Terai land is written the same way as bigha-kattha-dhur. Type each number into its own box above and the converter adds them together before converting, which is where manual calculations usually go wrong.
Working out what the land actually costs
Rates are quoted per aana in the valley and per kattha or bigha in the Terai, so the size and the price are often in different units. The Nepal land price calculator takes the plot size in either system and a rate in any unit, and gives the total. For the registration side, use the stamp duty and property registration calculator.
Related tools
- Nepal Land Price Calculator — total value from a per-unit rate.
- Stamp Duty Calculator — registration cost on a property transfer.
- Nepali Number to Words — write an amount out in words for a deed.
